Saints women's basketball shut down Dutchwomen, 63-53

Saturday, February 9, 2013 - 9:16 pm

The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team used a 13-1 run over a span of 4:41 in the second half to put the game out of reach for Union, earning a 63-53 Liberty League victory on Saturday afternoon in the Burkman Gymnasium. The Saints, who avenged an overtime loss earlier in the season, improved to 11-3 in the league and 17-6 overall. Meanwhile, the Dutchwomen fell to 8-6 in the conference and 13-9 overall.

Sophomore Kara McDuffee led the Saints with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while junior Kelly Legg added 18 points and five rebounds and junior captain HannahKara McDuffee '15 scored 13 of her 19 points in the final 7:00 minutes for the Saints. Photo by Tara Freeman. Wilson added 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting. Kelsey McDonald led Union with 13 points, while Brittney Kenney and Kate Thompson each added nine points and combined for 15 rebounds.

The two teams exchanged leads in the early going until St. Lawrence used a 10-0 run to break an 8-8 tie around the 11:00 mark. Union, however, came back to within striking distance with the help of the inside play by forwards Kate Thompson and Brittany Kenney, who combined for half of their team's points in the first stanza. With :25 seconds left in the half, Kenney came up with a steal and converted the layup on the other end to tie the game at 24-24. Legg made two of her nine first-half points help the Saints bring a 26-24 advantage into the locker room.

St. Lawrence adjusted its defensive plan for the second half, and held Thompson and Kenney to a combined six points. Union was scoreless over the first 4:20 of the second half, but St. Lawrence could manage only five points over that span. After Kristin Schmidt broke Union's scoreless streak at 15:40, St. Lawrence scored eight quick points, including two 3-pointers from Wilson to take a ten point lead with 14:00 minutes left.

The Dutchwomen, however, battled back to within one point, going on an 11-2 run over the next five minutes to bring the score to 40-39. McDuffee, however, sparked a 13-1 run in favor of the Saints that proved too much for the visitors. St. Lawrence scored 23 points in the last 8:00 minutes, 13 coming from McDuffee, as the Saints held off a late push by Dutchwomen to earn the 63-53 victory.

St. Lawrence will travel to RIT and William Smith next weekend for the Liberty League regular season finale.